About

Jamtown is run by Ben Riesman (Hi5 Recording, The Maas Building), Evan Bernard and Chris Baglivo (Big Mama's Recording). Ben designed the studio with the same acoustic engineering principals that he employed at the Hi5 Studio sourcing knowledge from the writings of respected acoustical consultant and architect Jeff Cooper. Evan and Chris completed the vision by supplying their hand curated equipment that was accumulated during the near decade of making some of Philly's best independent records. With attention to reducing undesirable sound reflections while still maintaining a sweet natural room sound, Jamtown was conceived as an “easy” studio. Easy to achieve professional sounds, easy for outside engineers to use, and affordable for musicians and bands on a budget without compromising quality. The collective concept for Jamtown comes together as a hi-fi, affordable, and easy to use studio for the people. The sum is greater than its parts, and Jamtown is situated to be the best-sounding, streamlined studio this side of the Schuylkill River.

Control Room

With a design that minimizes unwanted sound reflections the Control Room is a long pentagonal shape with non parallel walls and ceiling featuring a plethora of strategically-placed acoustic panels. This creates an ideal environment for both tracking and mixing.

Live Room

Sporting high slanted ceilings and a non-parallel trapezoidal shape the carpeted live room provides the perfect environment for capturing music and vibe. Whether it's chamber pop or hard rock the room is versatile enough to create sonic spaces of various sizes.

Isolation Booth

Comfortably sized with lots of sound-leading acoustic treatment The Iso Booth has windows into Control Room and Live Room. It's wired up for easy vocal overdubs or a great place for live tracking guitar amps.

Gear

Control Room System

Preamps

Outboard

Microphones

Guitars

Amplifiers

Speaker Cabinets

Drum Kits

Snares

Keyboards

Staff

Ben Riesman

Co-Founder, Co-Owner, Engineer, Studio Designer
Ben has been recording since the 1990s, ever since he got a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder and caught the DIY recording bug. Having started out as a trained classical violinist, then moving to bass and guitar, Ben has played in many bands, played all types of music and recorded many records along the way. He opened his first studio, UFI Records, in Oakland California in the back of the legendary locust of the Bay Area experimental music scene, 21 Grand, where he honed his skills under the tutelage of producer/engineer Myles Boisen (Guerilla Recording) worked with many of the Bay Area's most interesting artists, including Bart Davenport, Snowblink, and Indiana Hale. Relocating to Philadelphia in 2008, Ben stepped things up a notch by renovating and opening the Maas Building, an arts and event space which has over time become a hub for Philadelphia musicians and performers of all stripes. At the heart of the Maas Building lies the Hi5 Recording Studio, a dreamy 3-room acoustical recording environment equipped with plate reverbs, tape machines, and other tasty analog gear. Ben has become a staple in the Philadelphia music scene, from hosting a regular songwriter's night at L'Etage, and countless shows at Maas, to playing in rock clubs around town with his band Le Fits, (and Le Rain) and recording local artists. The Hi5 Studio has produced various recordings by a range of local musicians, ranging from indie rock (Low Cut Connie, Ali Awan, Heyward Howkins, Psy Dune, TJ Kong) to neo classical (Andy Davis, Variant 6) and international (Oscuro Quintet, Miroca Paris). Ben is a very collaborative engineer, and when called on, he can arrange, play and record a pretty sick string section in record time.
Contact: ben@hi5recording.com

Evan Bernard

Co-Founder, Co-Owner, Producer, Engineer
Whether it was listening to vinyl on his fathers old record player or placing a microphone under a bucket in front of a drumset to see how the sound would capture, Evan has always been interested in the potential of sound. He spent his youth experimenting with cassette recorders and learning multiple instruments. This all lead to eventually recording his high school bands, and getting into the Music Industry Program at Drexel University. It was there where he met Chris, and honed his engineering skills. In 2014, he and Chris took over Big Mama's Recording, having a hand in some of the most memorable albums to come out of philadelphia in the past decade. His love for sonic experimentation still continues, nestled within his trademark enormous guitar sounds. When he isn't in the studio he's out playing with one of his many bands, making hotsauce with his company Weaksauce or hopefully swimming in a pool.
Contact: evan.a.bernard@gmail.com
Personal Website: www.shittyheaven.com

Chris Baglivo

Co-Founder, Co-Owner, Producer, Engineer
“Artist first”: that's the philosophy Chris has had since he started his professional career as a gigging musician 20 years ago at age 14. Trained as an intern under engineers such as Kyle “Slick” Johnson (Cymbals Eat Guitars, Modest Mouse, Creepoid), and film composer J. Ralph (Man On Wire, Chasing Ice, The Cove), Chris internalized a holistic view of recording and production that heightens the strengths of the artist and preserves the joy of music. This philosophy was consistently implemented during his tenure as co-founder and operator of Big Mama's Recording. His approach can be seen on his collaborative production work on albums such as Mannequin Pussy's “Romantic,” The Spirit of the Beehive's “You Are Arrived” and “Pleasure Suck,” as well as his solo foray's with newer pop bands such as Z by Z's “Concentrate,” and Courier Club's “Drive Like Your Kids Live Here.” He is an accomplished lead guitarist who hybridizes metal and pop in his band The Superweaks, as well as a virtuosic bassist spanning multiple genres including slap bass and tapping techniques. His specialities also span the world of analog and software synthesizer programming as well as classical theory training in arrangements for both horns and strings. His performance session work can be heard on major label releases including Cold Fronts' “Forever Whatever” (Warner Brothers Records) and a plethora of independent albums.
Contact: chrisbaglivo@gmail.com

Andrew Santora

House Engineer
Andrew is inspired equally by old and fuzzy country recordings, spiritual jazz, elaborate singer-songwriter arrangements of the 1970s, harsh manipulation of hyperpop, hypnotics of trance music and 20th century classical. His diverse listening habits can ensure that your project will be viewed from both a wide perspective and sharp focus on your original intent as well since Andrew is a working singer-songwriter/band leader himself. Andrew graduated in 2021 from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia with a B.S. in Music Technology. He has spent much of the last few years working on a number of projects; engineering/mixing Steam Enginess' LP Lady of the Lake, contributing a remix for Philadelphia shoegaze band Doused's Murmur Extended EP and scoring music for films by Liam Carroll, Jesse DeRocco and Lucky Marvel. He also released his thesis for University of the Arts entitled It Ain't Fishin' But It's Somethin' through the Philadelphia label Liminal Editions. Andrew recently engineered/mixed the debut Laybrum LP Hungry for the Other Thing (Pleasure Tapes). His production style has been called 'an entrance into haunted sound worlds' with 'dissonant bliss and concrète surprises'. Don't be scared by that though, if you get in contact with him he's probably just listening to Bruce Springsteen and eating a Whopper.
Contact: andrewsantora1@gmail.com

Gallery

Browse some images of our studio and gear!

All
Control Room
Live Room
Gear

Services

Whether you're looking for recording, mixing, mastering, jamming, ADR or anything else - we've got you!! Our room rates start at $20 an hour for hourly sessions, $150 for an 8 hour block, and $200 for the full day (this rate does not include the engineer's fee). We will gladly provide a house engineer for $250/8hr block on top of the room rate if you need one. If you have a specific engineer in mind for your specific need, feel free to reach out to them to discuss their personal rates by clicking on their email in the staff page above. If you do not have a specific engineer in mind or have any questions please fill out the contact form form below and we can help get you exactly what you need. If you yourself are an engineer looking to rent the space we welcome you to reach out as well.

Recording

Our studio features a state of the art live room, top of the line microphones and world class engineers. You just focus on performing and we'll take care of the rest.

Mixing

So you've spent the last four years making an album at home and you don't know where to go next: look no further! Take a look at some of our clients and see which of our staff is right for your project.

Mastering

You've finished the mix on your album but need some fresh ears to give it the final touch? We can help you take your song or album to the finish line. Mastering is the process of putting the finishing touches on a track by enhancing the overall sound, creating consistency across the album.

Production

Have an idea but don't know where to go with it? We can help you turn it into a reality. The engineers at Jams have the collective ability to play bass, drums, guitars, keys, and even arrange strings. Whatever we can't do in house we can find someone in our network of talented musicians.

ADR

Our studio is set up with HDMI lines in both the live room and iso-booth for easily setting up screens for syncing with dialogue.

Rehearsal Space

Looking for a place to jam or rehearse? We offer hourly sessions at $20/hr, amplifiers and microphones provided.

Clients

Here are some of the records we've made

Soul Glo's Epitaph debut. This album was Produced and Engineered by Soul Glo's own Gianmarco Guerra, Evan and Noah. Upon release it was met with critical acclaim, landing an 8.5 and a best new music tag with Pitchfork Media, as well as scoring a 9/10 with lauded critic Anthony Fantano, just two name a few.

Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems

Epitaph Records

This genre bending work caught the attention of many an ear, sporting favorable reviews and landing multiple best new music spots amongst publications, including NPR. Evan and Chris engineered and mixed the album together.

Mannequin Pussy - Romantic

Tiny Engines

Recieving well over a million plays on on streaming services, Courier Club is a rising star in the world of dance pop. Building a huge fanbase across the globe, specifically in Brazil of all places, Chris produced, engineered and did a fair amount of writing to bring you this release and many since.

Courier Club - Drive Like Your Kids Live Here

Self-Released

A cold snowy winter's week set the stage for recording this monumental psychedelic album by Spirit Of The Beehive. With Evan and Chris at the helm the group created a world which exists only within itself -- gaining praise from critics and launching them into the bright lights.

Spirit Of The Beehive - Pleasure Suck

Tiny Engines

The recording process for this infectious, dreamy haze of an album started with Chris back in 2018, and after life got in the way for a bit, the album was mixed run through tape, and finished up here at Jamtown.

Jouska - Visions From The Bridge

Self-Released

Made in record time, The boys of the Obsessives along with Evan and Chris managed to record, produce and mix all 24 songs of the deluxe edition of this album in under two weeks. A whirlwind of an experience, this album now has millions of plays across streaming services.

The Obsessives - The Obsessives Deluxe

Lame-O Records

An experience through and through, "Breakfast of Champions" was met with high praise, landing on Wilco's best of Summer 2022 list. Noah and Evan recorded and mixed the record over the course of 4 years, building it track by track, with very little overlapping sounds.

Noah Roth - Breakfast of Champions

Self-Released

RIP Bryan Nowell, I will never forget the experience of you recording the vocals to this album, sunken into our big blue couch, singing at almost a whispers level while a party raged on next door. Receiving acclaim from publications like Post Trash and the Needle Drop, this album kicks off the unique, innovative sound that the short lived Blue Smiley put out into the world.

Blue Smiley - ok

Topshelf Records

Pouty's forgot about me was the very first record fully conceived at Jamtown. Rachel set out to make a hi-fi glossy pop-rock album, leaning into big production and bigger hooks. It was met with critical acclaim, recieving a 7.5 on pitchfork media. Chris and Evan produced and recorded the album together, Chris mixed it.

Pouty - Forgot About Me

Get Better Records

Rehearsal Spaces

Jamtown is packed with 11 monthly rental spaces. Two of these rental spaces are 280 sq ft, and include a wired isobooth. These spaces are perfect for a vocal, overdub, or pruction studio! We currently have one of available for rent starting on December 1st, 2024.

Contact: ben@hi5recording.com

Production Room

With a design that minimizes unwanted sound reflections based on high slanted ceilings and a non-parallel trapezoidal shapes, these rehearsal rooms creates an ideal environment for both tracking and mixing. We recommend additional treatment with sound panels to minimize reflections.

Comfort

Each room has a ductless mini-split to effectively handle heating and cooling duties. Not only do double doors help handle insulation to keep the temperature held where you like it, but they also help with bleed, keeping noise from neighboring spaces minimal.

Isolation Booth

Contact

Drop us a line! Any Questions, Comments and Booking Inquiries can be sent to the email below. If you know you want to work with a specific engineer, you can find their personal emails on the "Staff" page.

Location:

2426 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19133

Email:

JamtownJams@gmail.com